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"do you ever miss it?"
keith's eyes shot open; heart pounding, mind racing, and then slowing once more. "wha—, lance," the red paladin hissed, turning around to see his boyfriend's back. "it's like, 3am or somethin— I don't know, we're in space, but you get it. Why are you up?"
Lance didn't respond. Instead, he stayed put, staring off into the darkness of the room.
They were sleeping, as expected, but sometimes Lance didn't like to sleep and as much as he loved him, Keith did.
You see, Lance was one of those people.
The ones who would wake up at exactly 2:36am to ask 'If nothing is impossible then is it possible for something to be impossible?'.
And, naturally, Keith was the one to throw the pillow and tell him to go back to sleep or else 'we'll find out if it's possible for someone's eyeballs to pop in space without a helmet.'.
It's happened on several occasions, much to Keith's dismay.
But this time it was different.
Keith could feel it, a sorrow feeling radiating off his lover and seeping into him.
"Do you?" Lance suddenly whispered, turning around. Through the thin sliver of light shining through the crack of the doorway, Keith could see them.
Lance's eyes shining brightly, glossed over with unshed tears.
"Miss Earth? Home? Because..." He started, and stopped, shoulders drooping alongside his heart, "Because I do."
"Oh Lance," Keith quickly sat up, rubbing his eyes with his knuckles, as a child would, before continuing, "Is that what this is about? You're homesick?"
"I-I know, I'm such a loser, but I-I'm a loser who can't help it." He sniffled, burying his face in his hands.
"Hey, don't say that. You're not a loser for missing earth. We all miss earth, you know that. If anything, we're all losers." Keith tried to lighten the mood, he really didn't, but it didn't seem to be working. In fact, it seemed to have made it worse, because now Lance was actually crying.
As in, tears and sniffling and gasping for breath crying.
There were probably two things in life Keith hated the most.
Lance's puns, and holy hell if it wasn't Lance crying.
This was like, the worst thing to ever exist in the universe. Worse than the damn Galra — oh, Keith couldn't wait to get his hands on Zarkon for indirectly making his boyfriend cry. How dare he. How fucking dare he.
"Babe, don't cry. Please don't cry, i don't— I don't know what to do. I'm sorry, just— come here and let me hold you. Will that make you feel better? Please say yes I have no other ideas." Keith pleaded, only half joking, pulling his crying lover into his arms weakly. It was the only thing he could think of doing. He wasn't really good at the whole 'comforting' thing, really. Probably something he should work on.
Immediately Lance buried himself into Keith's chest, sobs causing his slim frame to pulse with each silent wail. The position was slightly awkward and uncomfortable, with Lance clinging to Keith like a koala bear would, but neither could thing anything of it at the moment. The only thing Keith could focus on was trying to make the crying boy in his arms feel better.
But that was easier said than done.
The real big problem here was the fact that Keith was an orphan. That's just— he never hated being an orphan more right now, to put it into simpler, more morally acceptable words. Sure he'd always hated it but now, only now, did he hate it so much he could combust, because it was preventing him with sympathizing with the person he loved so much.
"I know you miss Earth, Lance. It's our home. You shouldn't feel bad for missing it, so don't beat yourself up over the fact that you do. Like, it's expected. We'll go home one day, I promise. And we'll go to your house and eat your mom's cooking, and if for some reason I don't end up liking it I'm still gonna eat it anyway because I want to make a good impression."
"I-I miss my m-moms cooking. I miss m-my mom." Lance mumbled, grasping the fabric of Keith's tank top in his hands, sniffling softly.
"I know, Lance." Suddenly Keith's voice was way softer than it normally was as he gazed down at his boyfriend, rubbing his back soothingly. "She misses you too, I'm sure. But you know what? I bet she's really proud of you too. Even if she doesn't exactly know we're out in space defending the universe... I mean, moms kinda do that, right? Or so I've heard. They just get proud no matter what."
Lance let out a soft laugh, sniffling once more. "Yeah, moms do do that. Like, o-one time, I drew something for her - a shit drawing, let me tell you - but she got so happy and almost cried. And she bought me ice cream too." Both of them laughed at that, Keith only imaging how horrendous the drawing must've been. But then Lance's voice got quiet too, taking a deep breath as he sat up fully. "I'm sorry, Keith. I'm making you think of moms and stuff when—"
"Don't worry about it." Keith smiled tiredly, pressing a soft kiss to his boyfriend forehead. "I'm gonna try really hard to make you feel better, even if I don't know exactly what you're feeling. And I mean— I miss earth too, y'know? Just differently, or even if I don't exactly have much there. It's our home." There was a momentary pause, Keith's cheeks flushing as he suddenly blurted out, "I'll be your home."
Lance's eyes widened slightly, though the hope shining through them was brighter than the stars outside their window.
"I'll be your home." He stated again, this time more sure himself as he cupped the blue paladin's cheek. "Whenever you're homesick just— just come to me and I'll make this feel like home. Just for you— for both of us." Keith whispered, brushing the last few tears away with his thumb gently.
"Oh Keith," Lance smiled, leaning in to press a kiss to Keith's lips sweetly. "You're too cute. Where'd you get that quote from, one of Hunk's books? Imagine Pidge hearing you say these things." Despite the teasing, the fondness was overwhelming.
"Shut up, it came from the heart idiot." Keith huffed, cheeks getting darker as he looked away.
"I know, I was just joking babe." He pressed a kiss to Keith's cheek, grinning as he saw him relax softly. He'd never get over the effect he had over the red lion's owner. "But, thank you. That means a lot to me." Lance yawned afterwards, a sleepy look overtaking him. "Can we sleep now though? I'm tired. Also, sorry for kind of wetting your shirt with my tears."
"I'll have Hunk was it later." Keith said as the two began to climb back into bed, instinctively laying so that his back was to Lance's chest. Deep down Keith loved being the little spoon. "Goodnight Lance. If you feel homesick again don't hesitate to wake me up, okay?"
"Yes sir." He joked, wrapping his arms around Keith in a warm embrace from behind. "Night cinnamon roll."
"Don't call me that." Keith mumbled.
"Sure thing honeybunches."
Keith groaned loudly, causing Lance to laugh.
And then it was quiet, Keith finally closing his eyes as he began to drift off into his slumber.
"I love you, Keith." He felt Lance's grip on him tighten gently as he said this.
"Love you too, Lance. Always." He said just as quietly, a soft smile on both of their faces as they drifted into sleep together, in each other's arms, their hearts beating as one.
It felt like love.
It felt like home.